Thanks everyone for answering my post. Luckily, I have had him in various interventions since 2 1/2. He started out in Early Intervention for a speech delay and then in the school system under the Autism umbrella. He gets OT and Speech and pulled out for resource. They noticed the tics last year when he started excessively blinking his eyes. He also pulled his shirt all the time - still does but I thought that was related to sensory needs. He also did the skin picking and actually picked a mole off of his face. He had chapped lips for 2 years and he picked at his fingers. Most people don't realize he is on the spectrum because he is social but it is not appropriate all the time. He is very visual and learns best that way. They also saw the echopraxia last year in school.

I have learned to advocate over the past 3 years in a positive way and he basically has everything he needs for school. I am just trying to figure him out myself so I know what makes him "tick" (not tic) .

I don't know if because of his obsessions and phobias (weather and tornadoes - and we live in a tornado zone) and agressive behavior towards me at times if he needs to be on medicine. I have been a non-medicine person till now because we have been handling it. But as he gets older it gets harder. I can't change him but only teach him positive ways to handle everything. He has been on Lamictal for seizure reasons but any other meds we will have a hard time getting in him with his selective eating. We hid the Lamictal in custard style yogurt which he did well with.

This year has been a stressful year at school because we have a 1st grade teacher who has a chip on her shoulder, has never taught 1st grade let alone a kid with a disability. We are trying to get her the support she needs without being offensive. As a result he is tic-ing more.

We have an aide for him and he is pretty successfull in school.

I will definately have to look at those links you posted Lara. If anyone has any more in depth stuff send it my way. I just want to understand it all.